all right. there are reports of an armed individual inside the pcl liproprietal libra library. we are watching that. let's get to this first for you. vice president joe biden has a message for his fellow democrats, stop whining. president obama is in campaign mode and hits the road to rev up the young voters in new mexico, wisconsin, iowa and virginia. plus -- >> education is not just something that happens in school. we're doing this because it is essential to the well being of our future. >> education nation at nbc. we're taking on the toughest issues facing your kids' education today and throughout the week. plus, sarah palin going dancing. did she get the star treatment? and move over bed bugs. there's a new insect invasion,

stink bugs. good tuesday morning to you. i hope we didn't scare you off. i'm richard lui filling in for chris jansing on this day. hoping to energize voters that head to the polls five weeks from today. hit five states in two days beginning with a backyard discussion in new mexico. last night the last word with lawrence o'donnell vice president joe biden talked about the high stakes for his party. >> a lot of democrats who might have been thinking about doing exactly what a lot of republicans did. not show up and vote in the primary. well, this is a wake-up call to democrats. we have to show up and we have to make our case and focus on the differences, not the personalities. >> nbc mike vukvukiera is in ne mexico. >> let's continue with what joe biden told lawrence o'donnell. the president also had an

interview where he told some of these base democrats or reported to be apathetic. you know about the so-called enthusiasm gap. you cannot sit this one out. the message from the white house, it is time to stop all your sobbing and today the president continues on now with these backyard discussions. we're here in this setting in the land of enchantment outside of albuquerque, new mexico. this is the latest in a series of discussions. he gathers these people in backyards and most of these people are supporters of the administration, obviously. the point here is to provide a ventrue tue for the president t this economy recovery and to that end they have people who benefited from the president's policies. today the focus is on education and it is a small setting, but after this is done, he gets on an airplane and flies to madison, wisconsin, to bring back campaign magic. he will talk in front of a huge crowd there. a lot of young people there is, obviously, a college campus

there in madison trying to fire up that base and then he goes on to des moines, iowa, and richmond, virginia, to have more of the backyard discussions. richard? >> in his own backyard a change in the landscape there. rahm emanuel, we hear, could be stepping down on friday. who might replace him? what are you hearing? >> that is the latest parlor game in washington. our own savannah guthrie reported that friday could be the day when rahm emanuel decides to throw his hat in the ring to run for chicago mayor. a lot of speculation. most of it centered around a temporary replacement until after the elections. gentleman named pete rouse is often mentioned. we don't know, richard, exactly how it is going to play out. we don't know whether rahm emanuel will make that announcement on friday, but right now a very strong possibility that he will. >> mike viqueira, thank you very much in new mexico for us.

to one of the stories we're following all this week. one of the critical issues facing the public education today. the growing number of students who quit school even before graduating. a child drops out of school every 11 seconds. that's right. five kids will drop out of school in the united states before we finish reading this guest introduction. a quarter of u.s. students do not graduate from high schools. the class of 2009 dropouts will cost the united states $335 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivit productivity. today on msnbc, two of the most outspoken foot soldiers on education colin powell and his wife talk about the crisis. listen. >> 70% of the youngsters in the cohea coert will not be accepted into the army because they don't have a high school education or even with a high school education,

they can't pass our basic, entry-level exam. >> no one entity can take care of all of these needs. it takes all of us saying it takes a village. it takes a village, it takes a community. >> joining us as part of our education nation coverage. executive director of the detroit parent network and karen hunter, who is a journalist and publisher. thank you all, three, for coming by to join us this morning during education nation. let's start with you, my friend, david. it takes a village. >> sure. >> help us to understand what is the ideal village? >> the ideal village really incorporates community members, mentors for our young people, business community to come and get involved providing internships and opportunities for young people to understand the connection between what they're doing in school each and every day working with their teachers, the challenges of what they're facing. they have to understand what those kecks are.

when i'm studying this math and science, being able to connect to the real world is important. >> make it practical. what do you think is the weak link here when we look at the villages? >> well, you know, i try to look at things as a point of strength. i particularly focus in on parent as being a very strong part of the village and very influential part of the village and we have to get more involved as parents. we have to position our kids for success. one thing we have done with support the kellogg foundation is we have put together parent resource centers throughout the detroit community where parents can get together and build an agend frau kids and gain access to a menu of support services, as well as get help on some of the things that impede them from being involved with their kids' education and taking computer classes and also getting resources to help at home. >> practical. >> absolutely. but primarily getting them the support they need to have their kids be successful in school.

the other thing that we do, we're very intentional about how we pull people out of the conversation into isolation. which is one thing that msnbc is doing with the education. one thing you will know about that school is they view parents as partners, not problems. >> parents are a huge opportunity and strength here in making education better. >> absolutely. >> let's move over to you, if we can, karen. you both have been in education as well as reported on education. let's take the perspective of being on the outside looking in. when you look at the situation with the village that we're calling it so far, who do you think is best to manage this? because, you know, educators aren't necessarily geared to reaching out to the community and bringing resources in, necessarily. >> it's true. the college system works because you have a president that brings in the money and professors who take care of the money inside. >> high school and elementary

school is different. >> why? that's part of the problem. we spoke about this before. the system is inherently broken. we are putting a band aid and it's broken, we need parents and david is right, it takes a village. at the end of the day, if the system isn't working, all of that doesn't matin. when thomas jefferson set forth to do this, we were only supposed to have a third grade education. we are behind the eight ball trying to catch up and it's not working. >> trying to add things to it. >> every child deserves a quality education and that's one thing we're working towards and part of what we focus here on education nation is intervention strategies and how do we fix a broken system, as karen just mentioned. one thing the kellogg foundation focuses on is early intervention. >> david, last word for you. i want to finish by asking how we get the capabilities into the

schools so they can bring these villages together and reach out and get sources and funding. >> i think principals around the nation need to be trained and their job is bigger than what they're doing and they need to get the community involved and they need to be trained on how to do that. we need everyone to get involved and i think programs like this do really help to spread the word. >> perhaps some management education for principals. to learn competencies and get out there and build a good village, since that is our theme for this segment. thank you all three. i wish we had all hour to talk about this. so much wealth of knowledge sitting here in front of me. thank you very much. >> thank you, richard. >> our focus on education continues next hour. thomas roberts looks at the importance of early childhood education and then at 11:30 the education nation summit. that is going to be moderated by brian williams. now, to other news. an argument turns deadly for two u.s. soldiers in iraq. a suspect, a fellow soldier.

then, former illinois governor rod blagojevich will participate in a forum in new york today. the topic that he will be talking on, trust. now, i didn't misread that, i'm not kidding. that's really what the issue is. the calendar says it's fall and it doesn't feel like it in some parts of the country. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 absolutely. i mean, these financial services companies

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10:13 eastern time. we have some breaking news out of -- we are hearing at the moment at 300 homes in this area that you see on the map here. early on tuesday feared to have been killed while they slept. hundreds feared to be killed while they slept as 300 homes

were, again, involved in this heavy rain in the mountains loosening the soil around the town there. again, about 1,000 feared trapped in this situation. we're just getting in this information to nbc news. heavy rain, again, hitting that area. it has hit a town that's about a four hours' drive famous for its colonel buildings and it's a popular tourist site and we're hearing, again, 300 homes covered and 1,000 feared trapped and we're just getting that in. any more details, we'll have it for you right here on msnbc. another scorcher in california, meanwhile. record-breaking temperatures hit 113 degrees in downtown l.a. yesterday and anywhere without air conditioning was certainly unbearable and another record was set for the highest ever demand for electricity. all that air conditioning going on. the heat wave push temperatures over 100 from anaheim to the

central coast of california. the hot weather is expected to continue today but it will not be as bad. as they call it there, indian summer. 7:00 in the morning, they're probably sweating already. domestic abuse victim while prosecuting the case. definitely a bad idea here. now, the alleged sexting d.a. of wisconsin is about to resign for doing that. his attorney announcing his client's plans to step down ahead of the hearing to remove from office. >> he decided this was the best interest of everyone involved. he also mentioned the calumet county residents need to move on. it is in their best interest and that's really it. minimal contact, i could not prepare a case on this thing. >> 50-year-old krafs is accused of trying to strike up an affair with a 24-year-old woman.

he's prosecuting her ex-boyfriend on strangulation charges. rod blagojevich will appear at a forum today on the topic of trust. that's right. the governor recently convicted of lying to the fbi will sit on a trust panel here in new york city for advertising week. looks like reps from google, microsoft and harvard business school wants to hear his unique take on trust or lack there of. all right, an execution in states across the country are on hold because of a shortage of a drug that is used in lethal injections. several of the 35 states that use lethal injection are scrambling right now for sodium siopenathol the drug that renders inmates unconsciouses. it led to delays in oklahoma, kentucky and california saying it will be force to stop execution friday when its stock runs out. new batches of the drug may not be available until january at

the earliest. vice president joe biden is telling it like it is, again. his comments are directed at nervous democrats in his own party. first in new hampshire, he told democrats to "stop whining" and start directing their energy at republicans. biden let it rip last night on "last word with lawrence o'donnell" on msnbc. >> time to buck up here and understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward but not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward. >> all right, christina is a senior reporter for talking points memo and jonathan capehart is "washington post" editorial. buck up, stop whining. the question is, will this tough love approach fire them up or backfire in the end? so, let's start with you, christina, on that. >> well, it will yet to be determined in five weeks what

the actual result will be. you heard some version of this coming from the obama white house for many weeks because they know they left lost a lot of their democratic base. particularly on key issues like civil rights and gay rights and this vote on tax cuts. you have a lot of progressives frustrated that they won't take a vote on capitol hill. that is sort of the message they're trying to say. don't vote for those republicans because then you'll be really mad. >> jonathan, can that go too far and splinter some of that support and create something like a tea party but on the left? >> i think the white house and the administration has made the calculation that if they don't fire up the base somehow and get them out to the polls, that, you know, the losses that are expected could be worst. the other thing we have to remember is that early voting is getting under way or is under way across the country. so, if someone is sparked into getting to the poll early and

pulling the lever or filling in the circal for the democrat, all the better. in midterm elections the voter turnout is a lot less than it is during a presidential election and president obama was elected because he got lots of new and young voters to the polls. if he can get 1% or 2% more this mid-term election than the democrats got in the last midterm election that could be the difference between holding on to the house or losing the house. >> christina, want to move on to rahm emanuel. now, we're hearing at the moment he may make a decision on friday. the question might be, who will replace him? peter rouse is a name that is out there. >> he is probably the most likely contender. this is something that worked for president obama for a long time back when he joined the senate and also worked for tom daschle for many years before that. he was known as the 101st senator because he had such good relations on capitol hill. rahm emanuel rubbed a lot of his former colleagues the wrong way

and people are looking at this as maybe a good change. >> is it a super staffer or has been said by politico a surrogate. he is entering into a crowded race there in chicago. it's not going to be easy. >> it's not going to be easy. from what i understand, rahm emanuel understands that and who knows. the reports are that he could possibly resign as early as friday from what is reported today in "washington post." . maybe he'll give us a sense of what his thinking is in terms of this race. but, no, he knows he is not going to walk right into the mayorship of chicago. >> he may not even be able to walk into his own home. i was reading the "chicago sun-times" he may not be able to walk in there. >> i'm sure he can find another place. >> we'll see how that goes. thanks very much. >> thanks, richard. jennifer granholm stopping

by this studio shortly to talk about jobs, the economy and midterm elections. sarah palin cheers on her dancing daughter but did palin get engineer ngineer jeered her? ♪ [ male announcer ] we touch a lot of things throughout the day.

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an american soldier in iraq is in military custody for his alleged role in the shooting deaths of two service members. meanwhile in another situation in ft. lewis in washington state, chilling testimony on video by a soldier describing how he and his colleagues allegedly killed afghan civilians for fun. let's go to msnbc chiefmiklasze. that case coming out of

afghanistan. >> five soldiers charged with killing as many as three innocent afghan civilians in what u.s. military officials call a killing spree by a rogue military unit. but jeremy morlack who was before an article 2 hearing for the military yesterday testified at an interrogation with army cri criminal investigators pointed that staff sergeant who was in charge of that unit saying that he and the others were afraid that if they didn't go along they, themselves, could be killed. in fact, it appears that the defense for all four of those soldiers charged in addition to that staff sergeant gibbs are going to mount a defense that says pretty much that they were forced to do it, dragged into it by their unit leader, this sergeant. >> mik, another story you're covering for us. that is soldier on soldier violence in iraq.

>> this shooting occurred in the heart of what used to be the deadliest part of iraq during the height of the war there in fallujah and an argument broke out among four soldiers when suddenly one of them is alleged to have picked up a gun, opened fire, allegedly killing two of his fellow soldiers and wounding the third. there's still no explanation as to what that argument was about, but, obviously, tempers got out of control and in a situation where weapons fully loaded and at hand is a very dangerous volatile situation and, in the case case, a worse-case scenario, richard. >> very saddening. jim, thank you very much. jim miklaszewski with the latest on those two cases for us. general david petraeus says taliban leaders reached out seeking reconciliation. and a second chef featured on

gordon ramsey reality tv show was found dead in an apparent suicide. plus, ben & jerry's ice cream is making a big change. brian kurt of portland, oregon, is the founder of vocation vacations. he pairs individuals up with existing small businesses, giving the vacationers a two to three-day crash course to test drive a different career. it's an intensive learning experience for perspective entrepreneurs. hey, guys, i know i've been bad at this in the past,

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uh, you're a dan fool. oh. it's just a device, dan. you can't take it personally. yeah, i suppose. [ male announcer ] we understand. you need a partner who helps you save. fedex ground. welcome back to msnbc, i'm richard lui. the senate will vote on a bill that will tax companies for sending jobs overseas. this will provide tax breaks that import jobs to the united states. and texting while driving killed at least 16,000 people in the u.s. between 2001 and 2007. the fatalities have increased significantly since 2005. let's talk some ice cream here. ben & jerry is dropping the phrase all-natural from their labels. the health advocacy group asked them to remove it because of corn syrup and partially

hidrawnginated soybean oil. a little under two hours president obama will meet with a family in albuquerque, new mexico, hosting a backyard discussion about the economy and yesterday the president signed a $30 billion bill to help small businesses expand and hire. well, michigan governor jennifer granholm was on hand to see that signing. the president, as he heads through the midwest, is trying to get support for independents and democrats to vote independent. what does he need to get that support? >> all about jobs and the small business bill is really significant and i hope he's really able to put examples of people and businesses who have benefited from it, which is what he brought to had the white house yesterday and this bill that he signed was modeled after a very small program in michigan where we have been focused on diversifying our economy going from an auto centric economy to

a much more diverse knowledge-based pharmaceuticals, clean energy, homeland security and defense and even film. so, the bottom line for us is small businesses who want to diversify and maybe all auto before but can do the machining for medical devices or homeland security applications and we want to give them access to credit. but they haven't been able to get access to credit because the auto industry has come down hard and this gives them to get theuct to get the loans they needed. >> governor, are those the things that helped see 13% in that space. it's hard. second worst in the midwest. >> in this decade. we have been the most challenged state in the nation because we had such a concentration in manufacturing. seven times more automotive manufacturing than all the other states. we have been hit seven times harder and that's why we have been focused so aggressively on

trying to diversify and the reason our unemployment rate moved down is because we had some help from the federal government on diversifying. you may have been watching this, but, for example, we are now the home of the domestic battery industry, the batteries that will go into the electric vehicle. not the batteries in your car right now and, so, for those who have been watching this, we've got in one year, just in one year since the recovery act was passed, we had 17 battery companies in michigan projected to create 63,000 jobs in the sector over the next two days. >> you got your numbers down and i want to talk about cars. my first car was a u.s. car, made in the united states, made in detroit, in fact. >> what was it? >> it was bowling green, it was a corvette, 1985. that's what i bought. >> that's your first car. >> it was used. i bring that up because i want to talk about automobiles. the run rate for automobiles used to be in the $16 million, $17 million per year and we're

at a new reality now looking at $11.5 million i believe is the current run rate. is that the new reality from michigan as it tries to get past this hump that we were showing earlier? >> we had to reset the reset button because it has ramped completely down. so, this past period of time has been a retching elimination of jobs, plants, capacity that has caused us to have now just a core of auto manufacturing. but, from here, because we have hit bottom and we're starting to climb out, i think we're going to see growth in michigan and in other starts that are auto communities. >> i want to get this in because bright stars in the manufacturing space. this is a statistic, a fast-selling cars the 2010 chevrolet equinox 15 days. the ford edge 6 days. to put this in context for some of the models coming out of

detroit. this is also some change in the way that cars are being made. what is the secret here? >> a huge focus on quality. they have gotten excess capacity off the dealer lots and they have focused totally and completely on quality. you see the american cars in the surveys which is very exciting. you'll see the first electric vehicle come off an assembly line in november, the general motors volt. >> some folks are saying, hey, it's about time. it took like three decades for some executives to learn their lessons on that sore simply because michigan state and michigan are 4-0. that's what it is. >> i'm so glad you mentioned that and didn't talk about the lions. thank you very much. >> you do care about those two colleges, obviously. >> i absolutely do. live near east lancing and my tuition all goes to u of m. a wolverine. >> i'm a big fan. all right, governor, thank you very much. >> thanks, richard. >> very much appreciate you

stopping by here. >> governor granholm back next hour sitting on the pannal for the closing cession of nbc education nation. we have new numbers out on two key engines of the economy. american consumer and our homes, as well. melissa francis joins us with the latest on that. consumer confidence here. that's a lagging indicator, though, isn't it? >> well, it kind of tells you how consumers feel and whether or not they're likely to go out and spend. we saw the number dip lower on that. lower than expectations and lower than august which was 53.2. you have to take that with a grain of salt because consumer sentiment you may feel bad and feel like you don't have enough money to go out and spend and when your pants don't fit on your tadler going back to school, you're going to go back. it's sentiment as opposed to what people are really do. the kay schiller index which talks about home prices. home prices are really bumping

along the bottom and maybe have been put in a bottom. if you look year over year in july they were up, prices were up 3.2%. that's smaller than the jump we saw in june. but if you look month over month and adjusted seasonally and we saw prices fell a tenth of a percent and it shows that prices are low and depressing kind of staying there. >> one survey you followed, kay schiller is one of the better ones and i want to move on to something else before we move on. census is out and it talks about the gap between the rich and the poor. >> it shows the gap is widening and a lot of different stats, kind of no matter who you looked at. if you looked at teenagers, kids, family, it just showed the gap is widening. the only thing i would show about that data. if you take into account government programs because it looks at everyone's paycheck. f fewer and if you took into

account food stamps and other things like that. the gap is growing and one reason we see that in a recession because lower income people generally have jobs that could be eliminated more quickly and they suffer the most. >> cnbc melissa francis, thank you for all that. >> yeah. new evidence suggesting an arizona deputy may have shot himself and blamed it on illegal immigrants. in april deputy louis said he was fired on by 25 yards away by a group he was following in the desert but now according to two forensic evidence the wound s w shows he was shot at close range. you've all heard about the bed bug invasion or you've felt it, personally. but they are not even the worst. wait until you hear about stink bugs.ontains e same nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. skin absorbs it better and it lasts for 24 hours. later gator. lubriderm. your moisture matched.

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if you thought bed bugs were bad, wait until you get a whiff of stink bugs. they are overtaking bed bugs as the biggest pests of the year.

they're invading homes, killing crops from maryland to new jersey and stink bugs, they don't bite, that might be the good part of it, but like bed bugs getting rid of them is pretty tough and if you crush one of them, let's just say you know why you call them stink bugs in the end there. the cappens of both the u.s. and european ryder cup teams say this year should be a twitter-free zone. they are asking players to instead focus on the competition. >> i just have asked my team not to and they have, they have said okay. that's fine. we start again twittering i don't know what it is. on monday, october 4th. >> all right, perhaps u.s. open champ did not get the memo. he send this message to his follows. "we have a team meeting at 6:00 p.m., so we'll keep you posted on the tweeting ban. oh, no.

listen to this, what was with all the booing that you hear. ♪ love love to ease my mind i need to find find ♪ >> all right, there were some boos that were later replaced by cheers when mama grizzly was introduced after this had happened. it's not clear what the audience was upset about. it could have been someone's score as for palin she is supporting her cub all the way here. >> favorite dancer so far? >> so far, oh, my goodness, they're all amazing. they really are. bristol's not up yet. but bristol the pistol. that's who we're rooting for. >> guest commentator, sarah palin. >> bristol's ex-boyfriend levi johnston is on tonight at 10:00 eastern right here on msnbc. vice president joe biden

defending the democrats' decision to put off a vote on tax cuts until after the midterms. last night he told msnbc lawrence od'donnell it will get done eventually here. >> i'm not sitting in the senate any longer doing it day-to-day. the leader of the house and leader of the senate have made their own judgments about everything from filibusters to tactical maneuvers. >> senior adviser for the new democratic network. john fury republican strategist. guys, thank you for joining us. doesn't the white house actually want the vote at the moment so they can tout it as a win going into midterms? >> i think they want this vote and there are members of the senate and house who wanted this vote. ultimately leadership decided it didn't make sense for them which is a shame because most americans can agree that at a time of incredible deficits now is not the time to be giving an additional tax break to the richest americans. so, while i don't think this was the most politically savvy move for democrats, i think this

would have been a good thing for them going into midterms to force a vote on this. i do think there is a silver lining which is when we come back from midterms, i think you're more likely to get some republican support for this. >> john, who would stand to gain by delaying this, by putting this off? >> it's a very good question, richard. i think if you look at the democrats, you could charge them with legislative malpractice. they didn't do a budget at the beginning of the year and haven't done any of their spending bills and now not dealing with the uncertainty and tax code and making the democrat situation even worse. the fact of the matter is, you really should have dealt with this all year long because tax policy is an incredible role to play and democrats decided to punt on it and jobs are being hurt as a result and i think this hurts democrats in the election. >> john, let's stick with you on this. the gop is resting on the idea if you give tax cuts to the job creators, the rich, but keith olbermann had an interesting staton his show last night and i

want to show this to you right here. just after the bill was sign under to law in 2001, unemployment rose to 4.6%. the next month 4.9% the month after and 5% and then 5.3 and it goes on and on. so, how might you defend something that does not appear to create jobs and increase the deficit along the way? >> richard, what i would say to you is, boy, we would love to have unemployment back to 9.7% and people are really hurting out there. we need to do everything we can to help create jobs and the president and the democrats have really punted on this big policy debate. i think it's really tragic because people really want jobs and they want the best for the country and they're not getting it from this administration. >> richard, people do want jobs, but i think it's also interesting that you have some of the wealthiest americans coming out and saying, you know what, i do want you to tax me more. you have the founder saying i made investments in the past and

i'mtion who has created jobs through my investment and i have to tell you, this marginal tax rate has never affected my decision to make or to not make an investment. as you saw from that chart, the numbers varied out. there is no real argument for extending taxes for the richest 1%. >> that is a different time in history. john, hang on a second. go on to something else really quickly. alicia, what has been said the divide between rich and poor is getting greater and some new stats show that that gap is actually bigger than ever between the rich and the poor and the top 20% of earners in america received 49.4% of all pay, as well. so, is this how democrats make the case that the super rich don't need the tax cut? >> i do think this is part of how they make the case. i also think it's interesting how you're seeing this bear out across the parties. you know, you had the republicans giving their pledge to america, not really

addressing this income in equality and not standing up and talking about the number of jobs that have been sent overseas that are part of our dilapidating middle class and not speaking to this divide where democrats are saying, we do need to rebuild our middle class through innovation and through smart tax policies. not simply by re-creating policies that we already have seen fail. >> i'm sorry, we have to leave it there. >> can i jump in real quick. that's why they're going to get smacked in this election. >> thank you, both. have a good afternoon. senate majority leader harry reid in jeopardy of losing his seat to the tea party? the five closest senate races to watch. replant a forest? maybe you want to rebuild homes for those in need? or, maybe you want to help improve our schools?

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two breaking stories to cover for you right now. we are understanding at the

moment that the university of texas at austin is still on lock down. we understand nobody is allowed on campus. and according to their website what i'm reading from directly here is that the university is closed, a suspected shooter in a library is dead and that law enforcement are searching for a second suspect. that's coming from the university of texas at austin. they are saying if you are off campus, stay away. we're getting in some pictures coming in from that area. we want to get you what we got. it'sila a little shaky. this happened at 9:45 3 a.m. that's when the announcement came out. at the moment it is 9:55, roughly, local time, there in austin, texas. that is a breaking story. also, of course, watching what is happening out of mexico. i got new data for you in terms of what we know. 100 to 300 houses are believed

to be buried and they are speculating, according to a state, the governor of the state of wuhawka that 500 to 1,000 of people could be dead. but within the last 45 minutes, we are getting that coming from the governor. this after a landslide had happened overnight. we'll keep you updated right here on msnbc. five weeks to the elections and some shaping to be barn burners and luke russert and, you know, when i ask you what the closest races are, luke, there are many to watch. >> many to watch. five that politico have a real eye on colorado buck versuseses

bennet and also we have in nevada harry reid versus sharron angle and let's talk about in nevada, one that many people in washington have a close eye on because it impacts the democratic majority leader to the senate harry reid new poll showing him leading for the first time, 45-40, however sharron angle making outlanding comments including the rationale of autism and health insurance still within striking distance and showing that harry reid has a tough fight on his hands. she could be running the wirscome pain in history but she still could win. that's a very, yeah, it's amazing, amazing statistic there that shows you how disenfranchised people are with harry reid in nevada and sharron angle and that state has been hit by 14% unemployment. another one we have a lot of

interest here in washington is wisconsin russ feingold in the fight of his life against ron johnson. this guy has never been in elected office and never held a political position and a small businessman that has a lot of ideas about the economy and resonating in wisconsin. fieingold has been able to hold his independence holding moral victories and this time it does not look like it will help him out in wisconsin. if russ feingold goes down, that would be a big win for the gop. >> they haan haven't had a gop senator since -- that does it for me right now i'm richard lui filling in for chris jansing. i'll see you back here at 3:00 p.m. eastern with tony danza. talk about the toughest and best jobs he ever had. no it's not a taxi or "who's the

boss." it's being athomas, what do you coming up? >> coming up in our next hour, president obama tackles the economy again today as he gets ready to hold another backyard discussion in new mexico. plus, strong words for democrats worried about the midterms, buck up. plus new developments in the case of two american hikers being detained in iran. who will get involved in fighting for their safe release. move over bed bugs, a new pest invading the nation. we'll tell you about it.

hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. we have breaking news to tell you about. there has been a shooting at the university of texas inside the campus library there. the campus is now on lockdown. we have clint van zan on the telephone and former fbi profiler as well as a msnbc contributor. clint, what we know right now is that the suspected first shooter is dea